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Beaver Lake Dam News is an e-mail communication issued by the BeaverlakeCC.com website to inform website members about current news and developments related to the Beaver Lake Dam Renovation Project

NOTICE CONCERNING UPCOMING CHANGES TO LEVEL OF BEAVER LAKE

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR REMOVAL OF BOATS, FLOATS, DOCKS ETC.

Work to repair the Beaver Lake Dam Spillway will begin soon. T Ford, a construction company from Georgetown, MA, has been contracted to perform the work.We now expect T Ford to get started before the end of SEPTEMBER2018, possibly during the week of September 24th.Financing for the project from Country Bank has been secured. The Ware Conservation Commission approved the project at its September 12th meeting.

As has been previously described in this newsletter, among the first steps to be taken by T Ford will be placement of a cofferdam into the lake near the existing spillway and of pumps that will keep any water out of the work area.About a week into this project, ALL the existing stop logs by which the level of the lake is controlled will be removed.Over the following several days, the level of the lake will drop by about 3 and a half feet.This is two to threes times the usual level of drop seen in past winters.Depending on the contour of the ground underwater along your property, you will see your shoreline move out from its present location more so than usual.Prior to completion of this project, expected near the end of this year, a new stop log apparatus will be installed and put to use to restore the lake to its usual winter levels.The cofferdam and pumps will be removed. Given normal levels of winter precipitation, we expect the lake to return to normal levels come March-April 2019.

Though the date at which the project will actually start is presently an approximate one, we feel that it would be prudent to REMOVE ANY BOATS, FLOATS, RAFTS, DOCKS, etc.beforeOCTOBER 1, 2018 so that none are stranded “in the mud.”

Once an updated schedule, describing the entire repair process is available from T Ford, it will be distributed for informational purposes.

As you know, a representative of GEI (engineering firm that surveyed and did the plans for the spillway repair) will serve as a project manager to monitor the repairs for Beaver Lake Trust and Beaver Lake Club, assuring that the repairs proceed in a timely way and meet all requirements of the plan provided by GEI and approved by the Massachusetts Office of Dam Safety.

Questions have been raised concerning the pumps, how often they will run and some predictions concerning the level of noise they will produce.According to T Ford, the pump(s) will be rather small, similar to those used in home basements as sump pumps.They will be used, probably, on an intermittent basis, although continuous periods of operation are possible.The pumps will be powered by a sound-attenuated generator that ought to be less noticeable than the standard large stand-by house generators we have around the lake.